


running out of time (running out of life)

by krazycoocoo



Series: Wanna Be Your Star - ASTRO [1]
Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Hanahaki Disease, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 11:32:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8843083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krazycoocoo/pseuds/krazycoocoo
Summary: "You can't hide it forever.""I know, hyung. Forever's a long time."---(Or the one in which Minhyuk suffers from the side effects of love.)N/B: Set in the To Be Continued AU, but not canon.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title is taken from Halsey :)  
> This is set in the Alternate Universe of their webdrama To Be Continued (watch it, it's good). Starts a couple of weeks before their festival, but the only thing taken from the drama is the school and the festival. None of the back-to-the-past shit happens.  
> Also, sorry in advance. This is my first ASTRO fanfiction and I'm a little iffy about their characterisation, I'm not sure if I got it right, but enjoy.

Two weeks before the Festival, Park Minhyuk was woken at the crack of dawn by the sound of retching. _His_ retching, he realised belatedly, as he forcefully swung his legs over the side of the bed and slammed his head in between his thighs, heaving shaky breaths through parted lips. When the dry-heaving died down, he was overcome with coughs, aggressive, violent ones that racked the entirety of his slender frame. The silence that followed was almost deafening.

He let his eyes flicker to the single white petal lying on his open palm, and exhaled wearily. _Fuck._ Squeezing his eyes shut, he clenched his fist, crushing the condemning petal in between his fingers. To be honest, he wasn’t surprised.

But Minhyuk couldn’t afford to fall sick _now._ Two weeks until the Festival - fuck, the others would be so disappointed. They’d be nice about it, sure, but he was too good at reading people to not see the lies in their eyes. And Moonbin…Moonbin would be _devastated,_ and all Minhyuk could see was the scowl pulling his thin lips down at the corners, and the sadness in his cat-like eyes, and all of a sudden it was way too hard for him to breathe.

The coughing stopped eventually, and he lied down slowly, ignoring the sudden weakness in his legs and the sudden emptiness in his stomach.

He pretended he didn’t see the white petals on the ground.

Maybe if he pretended hard enough, he could pretend all his feelings away.

 

**//**

 

“Dude, you look like shit.”

Minhyuk scowled heavily at Jinwoo, and at least the older blonde had the decency to look a _little_ sorry. “I didn’t really sleep.” _I was too busy coughing up fucking flowers._

Jinwoo furrowed his eyebrows and raised a hand to Minhyuk’s forehead. “Rocky, are you sick?” Concern was evident in his voice. “If you are, we can call practice off – “

“NO!” The venom in his voice made the other male flinch. “Sorry, hyung,” the younger boy apologised immediately, sinking into himself. “I’m fine, I promise.” Jinwoo opened his mouth hesitantly, but was interrupted as Minhyuk forced himself off the ground. “Practice time, right?”

He would’ve waited for the older blonde if his legs weren’t about to give way beneath him. Ignoring their leader’s consistent stare on the back of his neck, he slipped into the opening position for Cat’s Eye. Minhyuk pushed himself harder than usual that day, forcing his weary legs to bend at the right angles, swallowing down the coughs that threatened to erupt, dancing his problems away.

Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could ignore the worried glances Jinwoo kept shooting him.

The next morning, Jinwoo caught up to him at the entrance to the studio, all narrowed eyes and worried smiles. “Rocky, can I talk with you?” The leader murmured, warm hand heavy on Minhyuk’s shoulder.

“Jinjin-hyung?” Minhyuk let himself be led away. “What is it?”

“It’s about…” Jinwoo paused, biting his lip and running a hand through his bleached-blonde locks. “It’s about Eunwoo and Moonbin.” Minhyuk literally had to swallow down the petals in his throat, eyes watering with the effort. The other boy paused. “…Are you okay?”

He _despised_ the pity in his hyung’s voice. “Why wouldn’t I be?” He answered defensively, shimmying out of Jinwoo’s grip and slapping a hand over his mouth as vicious coughs racked his body.

“You…I…just…” Jinwoo stumbled haltingly over his words, and any other day it would’ve been endearing.

He cleared his throat a couple of times. “Look, Jinjin-hyung, I appreciate your worry. But I’m fine, really.” _Liar._ “We should get back.” Minhyuk wrapped his fingers around the older male’s wrist, and strangely, Jinwoo didn’t protest.

Minhyuk curled his other hand tightly into a fist, crushing the three white petals sitting in his palm.

 

**//**

 

It was Sanha who found out first, their precious, bumbling maknae, a week before the Festival. How, Minhyuk wasn’t sure. He’d been so careful, always standing on the opposite side of the room to Moonbin, always situating himself closest to the door, reducing the amount of talking he did…

In his defence, it was by a complete stroke of luck that Sanha discovered the illness. It had been a particularly painful day for Minhyuk, and just thinking about the fondness in Moonbin’s eyes whenever he looked at Eunwoo, fingers grazing lightly over the older boy’s knuckles…fuck, he swore he could actually feel the branches squeezing his heart.

He had been careless in his panic, slamming his front door hurriedly behind him and sinking to his knees in front of the toilet, coughing up petal after petal. They were yellow now, he mused.

“…Hyung?” Minhyuk spun awkwardly on the tiled floor and came face to face with achingly familiar doe eyes and a mop of brownish-red hair.

He managed a tired smile. “Yo, Sanha,” he muttered weakly, head falling forwards. “What are you doing here?”

“Rocky-hyung, what…when did you…?” Sanha sunk to the floor beside his chocolate-haired hyung, wrapping his arms tightly around the older boy. “Who?” He finally added, voice a whisper.

Minhyuk shook his head vehemently, turning his head to cough out another couple of petals. “It doesn’t matter,” he answered quietly.

“Let me help you,” Sanha muttered, positioning his arms carefully around Minhyuk’s chest and lifting.

“Yah, Yoon Sanha, have you been working out?” Minhyuk teased, pushing himself up off the floor and sinking gratefully into Sanha’s skinny arms.

The younger redhead flushed and pouted, whacking his hyung’s arm gently. “Shut up, hyung.”

 

**//**

 

“Why won’t you tell me?” Sanha whined, resting his head upon his folded arms, peering up at the older boy through his eyelashes.

Minhyuk flicked the side of his head gently. “More pain than it’s worth,” he answered honestly, arms wrapped around himself. “Are you gonna get in or not?” He added, and the younger boy slid into the covers, all 180cm of him.

“You know, hyung,” Sanha mumbled, shooting his hyung a side-glance.

“Hmm?” Minhyuk hummed in response, eyes squeezed shut to fight the pain in his lungs. _Fuck,_ being in love hurt.

“You know, hyung,” Sanha repeated, forcing Minhyuk’s attention on him. “I’m starting to think it’s one of us.”

Minhyuk hoped the younger boy couldn’t hear his heart pounding. “Don’t be stupid, Sanha,” he scolded gently. “I’d already be dead.” _He may as well be._

The redhead male only sighed. “Absence makes the heart fonder though,” he murmured thoughtfully. “Plus, you only _ever_ spend time with me.”

“Yah, Sanha, are you saying you don’t enjoy my company?” Minhyuk joked, and Sanha frowned.

“The others miss you, you know.”

Minhyuk forced the tears away. “They shouldn’t.”

 

 **/** **/**

 

Myungjun was the second one to find out, four days before the festival. Minhyuk should’ve expected it, honestly – his hyung was incredibly clingy, and despite being the oldest out of the six, had the maturity level _of_ a six-year-old.

“MJ-hyung, I really need to practice the dance,” Minhyuk teased half-heartedly, running his fingers through Myungjun’s silky chocolate hair, back propped up against the wall of the studio.

The older boy only hummed in response, looking up at Minhyuk sleepily and offering him an endearingly youthful smile and nuzzling his head further into the younger boy’s chest. Minhyuk rolled his eyes, a small smile lifting the corners of his lips.

“Rocky, MJ! Get off your lazy arses!”

Myungjun groaned and sat up slowly, grumbling and shooting a glare at the blonde leader standing in front of the stereo. “Yah, Jinjin, a face this beautiful needs its sleep!”

“A group this beautiful needs its practice!” Jinwoo retorted, a wide, gummy smile turning the corners of his eyes into crescents.

Minhyuk curiously noted the older blonde’s lack of denial, shooting Myungjun an evaluative glance, before pushing himself off the floor and helping his hyung up. “You never sleep anyway, MJ-hyung,” he joked, and Myungjun narrowed his eyes playfully.

“Aish, why won’t you kids respect me?” He whined, leaning his head onto Minhyuk’s shoulder.

“You’re like the youngest in mind, hyung,” Moonbin’s gloriously smooth voice pierced the relaxed air of the studio, and a second later the boy himself followed, Eunwoo’s arm slung casually around his shoulders, his own arm wrapped around the older boy’s waist.

Pain lanced through Minhyuk’s body, and he stumbled back against the wall, arms wrapped tightly around his stomach. _Why was the door so far away?_ “Rocky, are you okay?” Arms around him, chocolate hair and a sweet, fruity shampoo. _Myungjun._

“Bathroom.” Minhyuk gasped.

A chorus of voices overlapped each other in their worry. “Is he okay?” “Rocky-hyung!” “I knew you were sick!” “Are you okay?” “Give him space!” Myungjun shouted, and it was strange – there was an incredible amount of frustration and concern and _understanding_ in his voice.

The older boy grunted with the strain of Minhyuk’s muscled body but his eyes were set in determination and Minhyuk had never appreciated his hyung more. The bathroom door slammed shut behind them and he fell to his knees, the petals gushing out of his throat.

“Is it Binnie?” Myungjun’s quiet voice echoed in the spacious bathroom, and Minhyuk pulled his knees to his chest, unable to breathe properly. His heart pounded painfully in his chest, throbbing violently against the branches. “Rocky-ah…”

“You…please don’t tell him.” The younger boy pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Ah, Rocky…” Myungjun stared solemnly at the yellow petal in his slender fingers. “I never understood this disease. To punish somebody who is in love…it’s stupid.”

Minhyuk whimpered, brushing away the petals by his feet. He couldn’t stand to look at them. “You won’t tell him, hyung?” He whispered.

Myungjun looked over at him with saddened eyes. “No,” he murmured and stood up, reaching out to help the younger boy up. “But you can’t hide it forever.”

“I know, hyung,” Minhyuk responded quietly, rubbing his tired eyes and accepting the older boy’s outstretched hand. “Forever’s a long time.”

_Not like I have much of that left now._

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me (obviously, they're real people).  
> I hope you enjoyed reading it!! And before you ask, I planned for Minhyuk to die in the end, sorry? But seriously, Binwoo is so...you don't mess with it, you know? ;) Please leave kudos and comment what you thought! Feedback is always appreciated. :)


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